Defense Ministry finally returns to Ukrainian air defense system development - military expert Zgurets

He spoke about this on Espreso TV.

"Air defense development remains an extremely important area. And when we talk about our own air defense capabilities, these are mainly initiatives from the state-owned Luch Design Bureau, which offered the Ministry of Defense three systems back in 2021. One of these complexes had a range of up to 10 km, the second - up to 30 km, and the third - about 100 km. These medium- and long-range systems could be ready within two years with funding of about $40 million. This was said by Oleh Korostelyov, CEO of the Luch Design Bureau," said the director of the Defense Express information and consulting company.

Zgurets added that the Ministry of Defense would not have found the money for these projects at that time.

"And now we see that the Defense Ministry is returning to these projects. As for the Coral complex, it is a surface-to-air missile system with a range of up to 30 km with a new missile. A system with a greater capacity of up to 100 km has a different name and it really provides for a variation in the fight against enemy ballistic targets. Now we need to concentrate on ensuring security - the creation of these air defense missile systems and new cooperation. Let me remind you that on December 6, there will be a meeting in the United States, where Ukrainian defense companies are going to hold a second meeting with American partners to create and strengthen defense industrial cooperation. I hope that US assistance in certain areas will be extremely useful now to accelerate national projects to create air defense systems," Zgurets summarized.

• On November 24, Deputy Defense Minister Yuriy Dzhygyr said that the purchase of missile weapons and ammunition is one of the priorities of Ukraine's defense budget for 2024.
• On December 1, Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk said that the main focus would be on the production of air defense systems, which would include not only portable air defense systems, but also air defense systems with a range of more than 100 kilometers, such as the Coral air defense system.